"Having failed in the legislative arena, opponents of reform are now turning to the courts in an attempt to overturn the work of the democratically elected branches of government," Cutter said. "This is nothing new. We saw this with the Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act -- constitutional challenges were brought to all three of these monumental pieces of legislation, and all of those challenges failed. So too will the challenge to health reform."

Cutter stressed that the court did not rule on the constitutionality of the health-care law. "Today's decision merely said that the Virginia Attorney General has standing to challenge the lawsuit -- which means that the court has jurisdiction to hear further arguments. The federal government believes this procedural ruling is in error and conflicts with long-standing and well-established legal precedents -- the types of precedents that, in the words of Chief Justice Roberts, are designed to preserve the "judiciary's proper role in our system of government" and to ensure that our courts do not become forums for political debates."

Cutter, a veteran Democrat communications strategist who helped guide Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court confirmation, was named assistant to the president for special projects in May 2010.